haha, a young guy just came in the store and he bought that dj premier Prhyme CD and then he asked me if i had any led zeppelin CDs! you can't make this stuff up...
first he asked me if i had any mf doom...
― scott seward, Friday, 3 June 2016 21:48 (seven years ago) link
he was early 20's.
― scott seward, Friday, 3 June 2016 21:49 (seven years ago) link
The Violent Femmes first LP is more of an American indie thing though. That band/album didn't really do much here, and never crossed over like R.E.M. did. I didn't even know the Violent Femmes were a thing until I read Americans talking about it online. I don't think I ever read about the Violent Femmes once in a UK music magazine. Seriously.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 21:55 (seven years ago) link
Even 'Blister In The Sun', their most well-known song here, was kinda obscure until it appeared on an advert or something.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 21:59 (seven years ago) link
yeah, okay, american teens. white ones. mostly. probably. i can't speak for the Latino community.
― scott seward, Friday, 3 June 2016 22:00 (seven years ago) link
BM is actually my favorite
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, June 3, 2016 10:03 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
thirded. total masterpiece. but I still listen to 3ft a lot and still feel the same about it as I did bitd - its masterful pop genius far outweighs the skittishness and the bittiness.
What I found depressing about this piece was the way he seemed to see listening to music he'd not heard as a chore. I really can't identify with that, and never have been able to.
― it's getting ott in here / so take off all your clothes (stevie), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:00 (seven years ago) link
I had a friend at uni in the mid-90s who was really into the first Violent Femmes album so I heard it a lot and really liked it but thought of it as pretty much an obscurity until I got the internet and found out they were huge in the US.
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:03 (seven years ago) link
FWIW, Whiney and David have established peace via bagels.
https://twitter.com/_davidturner_/status/738849336218550273
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 3 June 2016 22:08 (seven years ago) link
"What I found depressing about this piece was the way he seemed to see listening to music he'd not heard as a chore."
this was totally my least favorite part of the thing. it really made me cringe. well i guess i HAVE to listen to it. which might have been an attempt at humor but....
― scott seward, Friday, 3 June 2016 22:13 (seven years ago) link
this was the bit:
I can be pretty hard to please with certain musical aesthetics, and rap music prior to ‘92 — the year I was born, of course — is something I’ve struggled with a lot in my life. Too often, going that far back can feel like a chore.
I've been a music writer long enough to know enough music writers to know it's not a rare opinion but I still just cannot grok it.
― it's getting ott in here / so take off all your clothes (stevie), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:16 (seven years ago) link
also re tweet abt bagels, did this guy write trolly thing and then scour twitter to find people bitching about it without mentioning his twitter name? because that's p depressing to me too.
― it's getting ott in here / so take off all your clothes (stevie), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:19 (seven years ago) link
Not even remotely true, they were pretty popular over here.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:26 (seven years ago) link
... I'm talking about at the time, not 10 or 20 year later ffs.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:28 (seven years ago) link
Was gonna say I think they were known at the time (saw a video of them playing the Hacienda I think back in the mid-80s) but by the 90s my impression was they were mostly forgotten apart from the odd music nerd, relatively speaking.
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:36 (seven years ago) link
The Pixies killed them off tbh
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 22:38 (seven years ago) link
the first album never went away here though. trust me on that.
― scott seward, Friday, 3 June 2016 22:45 (seven years ago) link
xxpost:
No they weren't, if they were popular here it was with a painfully tiny percentage of music nerds. The Violent Femmes were nothing here.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 23:09 (seven years ago) link
Pixies were far, far bigger in the UK than Violent Femmes ever were.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 23:10 (seven years ago) link
tbf the Pixies did have 2 top 40 singles in the UK so yeah
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Friday, 3 June 2016 23:14 (seven years ago) link
You were there at the time, were you? LOL a painfully tiny percentage of music nerds, that's indie bands for you.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 23:32 (seven years ago) link
First prize to the eminent Historian of US Indie Rock Trends in the United Kingdom (1983-1993).
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 23:35 (seven years ago) link
So you agree with me that in the big scheme of things they were nothing. Okay then, that's that sorted.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 23:46 (seven years ago) link
That sort of depends on the criteria for being Something in the Big Scheme of Things. But eye bow 2 the superior knowledge U have of music of all ages and all nations.
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Friday, 3 June 2016 23:50 (seven years ago) link
Thank U.
― Turrican, Friday, 3 June 2016 23:54 (seven years ago) link
I didn't realise this was such a contentious issue tbh
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:01 (seven years ago) link
Neither did I, fwiw!
― Turrican, Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:10 (seven years ago) link
Violent Femmes first album stayed big with generations of Australian young teens too, and rightly so, as it's one of the best / most teenage albums ever.
literally just had an argument with a friend who's a year old than me bc he said "illmatic is boring. it was written forever" but also he's not a critic
speaking of young teens, I bought a leather De La Soul medallion from an import record shop in 1989, and Illmatic is really boring
― glandular lansbury (sic), Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:14 (seven years ago) link
whiney was utterly otm on twitter
― mookieproof, Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:25 (seven years ago) link
about bagels?
― glandular lansbury (sic), Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:35 (seven years ago) link
yeah whiney thank you for all of that
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:37 (seven years ago) link
iirc he didn't mention montreal bagels, so no
― mookieproof, Saturday, 4 June 2016 00:37 (seven years ago) link
This is pretty bad CONSIDERING IT'S NOT EVEN A DEATH GRIPS SONG
http://i67.tinypic.com/24euirc.jpg
― Frozen CD, Saturday, 4 June 2016 01:14 (seven years ago) link
I thought Violent Femmes were Australian when I first heard them, which was on a mixtape sent to me by a Melbourne pen pal.
― maura, Sunday, 5 June 2016 00:08 (seven years ago) link
They were really popular in the UK for their first couple of albums! Big venues. Full concert on the TV. Lots of radio play. Continually played in the prefects common room at my high school. This was 83-84 so up there with the Cramps, Ramones etc. Sorry no idea why you guys are debating this but they were. After the third album they broke up and disappeared and the non-chart music scene changed so they got sidelined permanently. Things moved faster then. Add It Up, Gone Daddy Gone, Ugly, Blister in the Sun etc were mainstays of student discos till the end of the 80s though.
― everything, Sunday, 5 June 2016 01:36 (seven years ago) link
i apologize for inadvertently starting a blighty kerfuffle.
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 June 2016 02:39 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUbFtHr3vCE
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 June 2016 02:41 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJXDEynfgR0
― scott seward, Sunday, 5 June 2016 02:47 (seven years ago) link
^ remember it well!
― everything, Sunday, 5 June 2016 05:40 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gproa6vzgws
this song is so great. i imagine it sounded very refreshing in 1983. probably went to #1 i'm assuming.
― Treeship, Sunday, 5 June 2016 06:01 (seven years ago) link
Sorry no idea why you guys are debating this but they were
One guy.
― glandular lansbury (sic), Sunday, 5 June 2016 07:39 (seven years ago) link
Thank you, everything! (xps)
― Larry 'Leg' Smith (Tom D.), Sunday, 5 June 2016 11:35 (seven years ago) link
i was sure that was right but i didn't start going to lolternative clubs until the late 80s so could only vouch for "Add It Up" getting played every week then. oh and knowing a bunch of peeps who had those albums.
― Noodle Vague, Sunday, 5 June 2016 11:46 (seven years ago) link
The Violent Femmes were huge among teens in Oslo circa late eighties. They played festivals here and I heard drunk people singing their songs well into the late nineties.
― human and working on getting beer (longneck), Sunday, 5 June 2016 11:50 (seven years ago) link
i came of age in the early 90s and remember the 4 big songs from the first Violent Femmes album being in WHFS rotation for the entire decade (plus "American Music" and "Breakin' Up" were pretty big).
― some dude, Sunday, 5 June 2016 12:48 (seven years ago) link
in fact i remember it being big news in the early 90s that the first VF album finally went platinum, nearly a decade after its release.
― some dude, Sunday, 5 June 2016 12:49 (seven years ago) link
in high school in the early '90s "Blister in the Sun" was like "Rock Lobster" -- slotted with whatever big pop/dance hits got played at parties.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 5 June 2016 12:51 (seven years ago) link
oh god I just remembered they covered "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me"
It was supposed to be funny, right? ugh. violent femmes near the top of my (very) short list of surly, smug, uncooperative interview subjects
― indie fresh (m coleman), Sunday, 5 June 2016 14:08 (seven years ago) link
I don't think it was meant to be funny.
― glandular lansbury (sic), Sunday, 5 June 2016 14:20 (seven years ago) link
One of the violent femmes has become an honorary Australian, owns a tea shop in Tasmania and plays improvised lute jams in it or something like that
― badg, Sunday, 5 June 2016 15:01 (seven years ago) link